A beam of light flared above a quiet lake.
Then, splash!
A boy’s body dropped from the sky, crashing into the water below. He remained still for a moment, floating just beneath the surface, until his eyes snapped open in a jolt.
He gasped, disoriented.
‘Trees… green canopies… a still lake.’
The last observation made his thoughts freeze. Because now all he saw was the water beneath him.
His head dipped, plunging into the lake, drinking desperately.
He didn’t care if it was clean or not, he just drank, greedily and wildly. Only after several gulps did he pull away, panting heavily with ragged breaths.
‘A forest,’ he determined with a glance.
Malakai forced himself upright and quickly checked his body.
‘My weapon and supplies are intact… but my body—’
Pain radiated through every fiber of his being.
Malakai winced.
Dragging himself to the lake’s edge, he sat on a flat rock, reaching for a small sack on his belt. From it, he pulled out a devil’s fruit.
Taking one bite, and an intense surge of relief spread through him like a wave of warmth.
‘It’s addictive,’ he thought, his body aching and begging for more.
‘I have to conserve it.’
But he knew better. With his limited ability to hold vita, devouring the whole fruit would be wasteful.
He waited patiently as the energy settled, then took another small bite.
Relief filled his body again. His muscles eased and the pain dulled. As he repeated this process, he scanned the clearing.
The lake was nestled at its center, surrounded by open space before the forest resumed ahead.
For now, everything was calm… but Malakai wasn’t counting on that being the case for long.
‘Four more fruits left,’ Malakai noted grimly as he finished eating the one in his hand. Unfortunately, the devil’s fruit he could bring with him was limited. He had to ration them carefully.
He had no idea what could be waiting ahead.
After a few light stretches to loosen his stiff limbs, he began to stand, only to freeze.
A chill. Cold. Intense. Crawling up his spine.
‘No… no…’
A feeling he could never forget, death.
His gaze sharpened. From the treeline ahead, something emerged.
A figure.
But not human.
It stood over eight feet tall, 2.5 meters of grotesque, hulking mass of slick, obsidian black flesh, with muscles bulging like coiled steel beneath its glistening skin.
It was naked but had no reproductive organs, just pure, twisted anatomy. Its head was smaller than its body, unsettlingly so, with gleaming white eyes filled with little intelligence.
Its mouth stretched wide, rows of white, jagged, spike like teeth jutting outward. A long, black tongue slithered from its maw, tasting the air.
A darkness creature.
Malakai’s breath stopped. His expression shifted violently. His fists clenched tight.
‘A grade one Enhancer.’
Humanity had categorized darkness creatures into five primary types:
Enhancer. Manipulator. Summoner. Corruptor. Illusionist.
Each type was graded from Gradeless to Grade Five, with Grade Five being a myth.
Gradeless Enhancers were already more powerful than any normal human, stronger, faster, deadlier. They could tear through steel, leap over rooftops, shrug off bullets.
A single one could massacre an entire battalion of humans.
But Grade One Enhancers were far worse, brutal juggernauts. Capable of smashing vehicles with a punch. Able to recover from lethal wounds in seconds.
That was what now stood before Malakai.
The creature roared.
A thunderous, guttural bellow that shook the forest.
‘Shit!’
Malakai’s instincts screamed at him like a blaring horn.
He was scared. He was frightened. However, Malakai didn’t want to die, not before completing his goal.
He clenched his fists. Gritted his teeth. And shoved the fear deep into the pit of his gut.
Years of strategy, of visualization, of relentless training surged into his mind all at once. His breathing calmed. His gaze sharpened.
The creature dipped low, legs coiling like loaded springs. Cracks spiderwebbed under its feet.
Then, it launched.
A black blur tore through the air, the force of its movement parting wind like a cannon blast.
It was a Grade One Enhancer. A super being, one that Malakai couldn’t hope to match in either strength or speed.
Any sane person would have fled. Sidestepped. Backpedaled. Hid.
But Malakai did something else entirely. Something that would make any onlooker’s eyes widen in disbelief.
He charged forward, sprinting straight toward the beast.
The darkness creature appeared in front of him in a flash, its massive fist splitting the air toward him with terrifying momentum.
But Malakai didn’t react to the movement, it was far too fast for his unevolved body to follow.
He didn’t need to.
In his years of visualizing battles he had seen of darkness creatures, Grade One Enhancers were powerful, monsters capable of causing carnage.
Yet, they were simple creatures. Dumb. Easy to predict.
Malakai had already anticipated this exact move.
His body dipped, low, so low his nose nearly grazed the ground. His hand shot backward, gripping the hilt of his scythe, yanking it free in a fluid motion.
The blade flashed.
He surged to the side in a sweeping arc, slipping past the beast’s punch by a hair’s breadth.
Then, hook.
The scythe’s curved edge caught the beast’s leg mid-charge, aiming to destabilize it.
It sliced through the thick tendon behind its knee, one of the few known weak points.
The beast’s leg twisted. The tendon snapped.
Its foot slipped, its body pitching forward as the creature crashed into the ground, rolling uncontrollably from the force of its own momentum.
Dust exploded into the air in its wake, clouds rising and swirling as earth trembled beneath its weight.
But the dust had barely even formed before Malakai moved.
From his bent position, he shot forward, gripping his scythe by the end of its staff.
A pivot of his heel. A twist of his core.
He spun, him and the scythe twisting as one.
The weapon carved through the air in a deadly arc, slicing through the dust cloud. Each rotation built momentum, the blade hissing like a viper with every turn.
And then, as the dust began to clear, the beast raised its head, rage boiling in its gleaming white eyes, its mouth parting to release a roar at the insignificant human who dared humiliate it…
A flash.
A gleam of silver.
The sharpened edge of a scythe tore through the air, appearing inches from the creature’s skull.
There was no time to react. No time to dodge.
The blade pierced clean through its head.
Black ichor splattered violently across the clearing as the creature convulsed once… then slumped forward, lifeless.